Andrew Davidson appreciates a view of his nickname. You don’t mind being called in golf, because you can be good in golf. Pars basi are your friends. And a few years ago, during a streak while at Stirling University, Davidson signed for them a lot.
He also shot for eight consecutive rounds, so surely his friends had to come up with something to call him other than “Andrew”.
“Blandy,” Davidson said.
The thing is, however, it is also a touch ironic.
Most of the year 32 is decided and– bland He is, in fact, accomplished at golf, and next week, he will be one of a dozen international players who will meet the American side at the Bridge Cupa mid-amateur team event that will be played this year at Trump Turnberry, in Davidson’s native Scotland. Davidson’s list of golfing accomplishments is long. He represented his country at the Internationals, the European Team Championship and the European Cup of Nations. He won the Scottish Order of Merit. He is a winner of the Welsh Amateur Stroke Play. He is a winner of the Battle Trophy and the East of Scotland Championship. He is a two-time champion of the Scottish team.
And the man is also the director of a fishing company.
It is a family business, just 15 minutes from Saint Andrew. Some of the company fishes for langoustine in the UK, and some of the company sells licenses for vessels. Its name, the fishing company Robinson Crusoe, came about because a statue of the fictional book character had been built where the Davidson family lived.
As for his golf, he also once caddied at the Masters.
The cycle has come for Laird Shepherd to the 2022 gameafter Shepherd won last year’s Amateur Championship. Davidson had attended Stirling with Shepherd, and also carried his bag to the Lovers. At Augusta National, they played twice before exiting, but the memories stuck. There was the crowd: “It’s so intense when you’re on every tee,” Davidson said. There was the dirt: “I couldn’t believe the ripple, to be honest,” he said. There were the greens: “they lean away from where the lie is, and yes, it’s just that you can see how it takes people a few times to go before they start to discover how to play.” There was too Tiger Woods. Davidson’s boyhood hero was on the field that year, and he remembers the patrons surrounding the 15-time major winner. “The crowd was just crazy around him, like everyone would go out just to watch Tiger. But if you were near him – I think one of the practice rounds Laird was near Tiger, and you would see a crowd and a crowd of people right around a group.”
But if you’re going to really understand Davidson, that’s who he is done for team events such as the Bridges Cup.
There is a sweetness to him; ask him for his favorite golf advice, and he will tell you: “Probably with putting in reality – you either go in or you don’t, it’s as simple as that. It’s like you fight so much, but when you’re done, you either go in the hole or you don’t go in the hole.” There is now also a father for him; he and his wife, Cristen, are parents to 2-year-old Delilah. If he ever played the game, his advice would be straightforward. “Have fun,” he said.
But Davidson is also funny, people tell him.
It’s not, well, Blandy.
“Just try and stay optimistic all the time,” he said. “You’re not going to win every game as a team, so try to keep spirits high.”
